1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cellular telephone networks and, in particular, to cellular telephone networks supporting short message service message delivery.
2. Description of Related Art
Many cellular telephone networks support the transmission of short message service (SMS) messages to and from short message entities (SMEs) such as mobile stations. For example, such a short message service is currently supported by a number of digital cellular networks including the Personal Communications Services (PCS) network and the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications network.
A short message service message delivery from a service center to a mobile station may fail for any one of a number of reasons. For example, the mobile station may not respond to a system page, and therefore not be reachable at the time of delivery. Similarly, short message service message delivery may fail because mobile station memory capacity has been exceeded and thus cannot currently handle the reception of another short message service message. The undelivered message is then stored in either case for later delivery. Subsequent to the failed message delivery attempt, radio contact with the mobile station may be established using a radio resource connection in a successfully authenticated transaction like a location update, call origination, call termination or call independent supplementary service. In connection therewith, a signal is sent to a home location register indicating that the mobile station is now available for message delivery. The radio resource connection used for the successfully authenticated transaction is then dropped. Responsive to the received signal, the home location register confirms that a message needs to be delivered to the mobile station, and signals the service center to effectuate delivery of the stored message. This delivery requires the use of a new radio resource connection with the mobile station.